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'Pen rounding into form with more defined roles

A.J. Ramos pitched two of the five scoreless innings of relief Thursday.

By Joe Frisaro
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MLB.com |

SAN DIEGO -- After a rocky first couple of weeks to the season, the Marlins' bullpen is settling into place.

In Thursday's 3-1 win in 11 innings, the relievers picked up five scoreless innings against the Padres.

"The past week to 10 days, those guys have done a nice job," manager Mike Redmond said. "We had to keep lugging guys in there."

Redmond notes that having Jacob Turner back in the rotation solidifies the bullpen, because Brad Hand and Kevin Slowey can return to their long-relief roles. Both were used as starters in Turner's absence.

The bullpen showed promise during Miami's 8-1 homestand, and the focus is to carry things over to this West Coast road trip.

"Keep doing what we're going," Dunn said. "That's everybody. Just keep focusing on the pitches. It doesn't have to necessarily be the right pitch for the situation, but if you execute it, nine times out of 10 you've got a good chance getting the guy out."

Miami's early-season letdowns were mainly because of poor execution and some questionable pitch selection.

As Dunn notes, throw a quality pitch and chances are you will get a positive result.

"I think it's just continually pounding the strike zone and executing the pitch," Dunn said. "I look back at that homestand, there weren't a lot of walks. We weren't shying away from anybody. We were going right at everybody and attacking them. We've got to keep doing that."